my 2006 ...

Jan

• Gave a big blessing - which was a sacrifice to my bank account, however, giving with the right mind - is truly different :)
• Bahija was 1 year old
• Mum did her right eye cataract procedure, Bahija's boss is very supportive, he allowed me to work from home 7 days to take care of mum
• received a very special blessing :)

Feb

• Celebrated CNY quietly and peacefully in KL
• was a house-maid - cooked, cleaned - did everything that mum was doing ( she's on MC ) - tiring job

March

• Went up north - my whole department was here for meeting, met folks from Costa Rica & US
• Received my focal at a hotel conference room - the experience was scary - the room was way too huge, and toooooo cold , too quiet - luckily not a bad review , didn't get into the IR thingy ......ouuiii

April

• Celebrated my 10th yr anniversary :) - rewarded myself with Cambodia trip
• Received key and busy getting the rest of the things done

May

• Dad's 10th yr anniversary
• Attended Monica's wedding - my dinner table was no 8, very close to her VIP table and in front of the i-kei's CEO and senior managers - that shows that she treasure her friendship :)
• Watched Grease musical at KL Convention Center

June

• Learned and made dumpling ( 'bak-chang') - my hands very sakit
• Mini vacation at Datai Langkawi
• First time diving - intro fun dive
• 06-06-06 , 6 am - knocked my sweety car at the carpark poles ( at that time - the whole carpark was empty - too many choices screw up my eye-sight and judgement )
• Vacation with mummy - visited Hong Kong, China Yunnan Province ( Kunming, Dali, LiJiang, Shangri-La ) , hiked to the highest Snow mountain peak with mum - she's really amazing

July

• Completed patching up my house with all the little things , a project dragged for 3 yrs
• In-kei - redeploymnet news started , sad to say 'good bye'

August

• Emily & Benji home for 2 weeks - we had good quality family time together
• Family vacation in Bangkok
• Mum did her second eye cataract surgery - Bahija again turned into housemaid.

September

• Irrational purchase - extremely expensive, burned a big hole in my pocket - bought a dopod pda phone :(
• Accident - a big truck hit my sweety - shocking experience, but glad that 'we' were ok

October

• At work - redeployment news again ....
• Family vacation at Frasier Hill
• A work request which was pending for > 1 yr, finally saw some lights , approval granted to purchase additional SAN spaces for database backup
• Mum vacationed in India Golden Triangle - again, Bahija had the privilege to work from home babysitting Teddy Bear

November

• Bid farewell to friends and colleagues who received separation packages
• My niece Jennifer got all As in her UPSR
• Makan Toni Roma's , spent a very special night helping Ringgit to source for diamond ring
• Tinted my sweety car - I loved it so much
• Busy with children church - helped to transition the 12 yrs old kids to Youth cells
• Teddy Bear admitted to hospital for 3 days - horrible experience to sleep overnight at the hospital

December

• Participated in Vacation Bible School - helped to take care 6 - 9 years old kiddos. Cannot tahan the 'noise pollution'
• Hosted boss during his PG and KL trip. Attended Fish's wedding
• Visited KM plant ( 1st time) - Bahija like the surrounding green environment, the buildings are nicer and neat
• Vacation at Hanoi, Vietnam - 'forced' mum to experience her first kayaking - Bahija sakit tangan kayaking her :) - she only sat and enjoyed the view and breeze , while I worked extremely hard to kayak
• Celebrated my special day - Bahija is so joyful and blessed for all the wishes and gifts and kind thoughts - from all around the regions
• Christmas - this year was different than other years - Christmas to me is more meaningful - with 'isi'
• Dec 28 - my eldest niece Josephine got 8As in her PMR
• Dec 31 morning - good message from Pastor - I was nodding my head from the beginning to the end --> 'The Secret of Blessed Life' - walk the path 'intentionally' :)
• Dec 31 evening - going dinner with Sanguine and gang .... but I'll skip countdown this year - got to come back and prepare my personal mission statements :)

It's been a busy year for me, learning and growing my spiritual life, juggling between work & family commitment, plus taking slightly more vacations this year. It's wonderful to have a supportive manager - I'm just glad I'll end 2006 with a big SMILE. I'm very grateful for all the 'sweet and sour' moments .... may I be better next year

To my readers, Happy Blessed 2007 .....

Merry Christmas ....

Ringgit reminded me that this is my 2nd Christmas - the one which I don't celebrate commercially, but with faith....Christmas is not about buying and getting gifts, it's not about party, food or countdown.....it's Jesus birthday, Christmas is all about Him... what can we do to please Him ... Gift of Praise, Gift of You, Gift of Forgiveness, Gift of Giving, Gift of Commitment, Gift of Faith. Happy Birthday Father. Bahija is so happy. Tonight everyone gathered at my house, we had turkey with cranberry sauce & brown sauce, mashed potatoes, salads, steamed vegetables, organic brown rice fried meehun, non sweet longan drinks - very healthy, ice cream, and cheesecake made by my little 14 yrs old niece ( she's good). We played games and exchange gifts. Tonight was special , coz I invited everyone to stand still while I said my grace and prayers :) - things fell into place beautifully. During gift exchange, we played a game to rotate the gifts .... magically, most of the gifts landed on the right hands , meant for the right owners :) HeHeHe - wonderful evening ......... May all my readers have a blessed Christmas, and welcoming the fruitful new year :)

Today.....

Today was another busy day, accomplished many things. Plus today is special, Bahija received many many many wishes from friends all over the world , some were truly a surprise for me loh - hehe..... those who are reading this - TQ So Much , from the bottom of my heart .... the youngest call I received was from a 3 years old Little Barbie , it's so sweet, so cute listened to her talking to me. My buddies bought me a good dinner at TGIF, had a great fun time with them. I'm so fortunate, and so blessed with everything, everyone around me. On top of this , yesterday - one of my prayer was answered ( after mths of praying ) - I want to think that it's a gift from Father .....hoo hoo

some of the precious tangible gifts received so far ......

a promotion ....

Mid Sept - I was invited or asked to spend some time or help in the children church. I did. Started as a guest, then a helper. Tonight - i was asked to attend a planning meeting. So went lar - entah during the meeting, Bahija realized that she was promoted from a helper to an assistant teacher liow lah - dahsyat nya ...... how I feel ? hmmm, 'commitment' , 'dicipline', 'dedication' .... It's positive to be given more responsibilities, but then - I seriously don't qualify for this , as I'm not an obediant servant lah .... 左右为难

I'm back .....

Hi , Bahija is back again :) .... been away for a while ...Dec 4 -5 - volunteered as assistant teacher in my church Vacation Bible School ( VBS ). Wow - super duper tired to jaga 100 plus 6 to 12 yrs old kids , from 9 am to 5 pm.... by 2 pm - I had severe headacne , reached home by 5:30 - took panadol and zzzzzzzz - what an experience to taste the noise pollution :) - nightmare actually - hahaha

Then I'm off to Penang with Dee - spent quality time with Docker's Pant and Dee, visited Kulim too ( not bad wor - buildings surrounded with lots of greens ) ... Then following week - took my 2006 last vacation in Vietnam. I'll find some time to blog or post some photos.

26 vs 33

26 ..

• have dreams - always talk about owning a business or doing something
• working hard building the career empire, hardworking
• can OT till wee hours, can work > 15 hrs a day, still awake the next day & energetic
• start building wealth slowly
• loves shopping and shop often
• will follow fashion, try to dress well , looking good
• active in social life, good in networking
• indulging nice food at nice restaurants - trying out food at various places
• go discotheque, can party, dance all night till 5 am - and still looking fresh the next day
• metabolism high - can eat more food , yet not putting on weigh easily
• lots of freedom

33 ....

• treating job as 'just a job' , prefer stable 9 - 5 job
• can't OT too much , can't sleep late - else sorethroat next day
• metabolism dropping drastically - eat less, still put on extra pound
• slowing down in lifestyle - no dreams to own businesses anymore
• stop spending $$ on clothes , don't shop often anymore
• wear jeans and Tshirt to work , dressing is simple or 'ching chai'
• homely
• not willing to dine at expensive restaurants
• dislike discotheque - too noisy - too smoky - too crowded
• own assets ( but they are liabilities at this moment )
• feel like time passes extremely fast , as commitment keep increasing ....
• more mature in life

26 vs 33 - that's a huge difference ..... will 'something' work ? i already have doubt ..hehe

human relationship

Sometimes , we hear so and so not a good daughter-in-law , so and so not a good son-in-law bla bla bla ....Some cases, we do have very difficult people (eg parent, in-laws, siblings, colleagues) to live with or to work with. But generally , I think it takes 2 hands to clap. Both parties have to work on a relationship.

Eg , Ms World is a caring daughter. She puts herself in the elders' shoes, and look at things from their end. She knew 'the parents era' - they watched the famous James Bond movie. So now, as she's deeply in loved and dating this guy. She's planning to bring her own parent, as well as her BF's parent to enjoy the movie separately - treat it as family outings....

The point here is that - when a boy meets a girl, falls in love - have their own cycle of life - the boy's or girl's parent suddenly feel left out - they may feel that they are losing one child, as the child is no longer spending time, focusing on them. If there is more of this Ms World, who is thoughful and also include the loved ones into her new relationship - everyone feel loved, feel appreciated - and that's the best strategy to win the hearts. It's a form of respect to the elders too ..... we live in a society consist of 'human beings' - like it or not - human relationship is important - a good positive relationship will cultivate positive energy, 'chi', brings joys and good support along the way ...........

funding expenses

One of my friend is planning on his wedding. During the conversation - he mentioned that he won't left Bahija and Wau Bulan out , as he needs us, our angpow to fund his expenses ..... hmm, Bahija is against this statement, that's wrong.

Wau Bulan replied to me :
That’s why my dad always against big wedding ceremonies for his kids (THANK GOD!!) coz for us - and I think generally any religions & races – the ceremony is to mark the occasion and sharing the joy, happiness, food etc. If u had big weddings, u grumbled coz u spent a lot of $$ and also expect people to give u $$. So it defeats all the good purposes & intentions of the ceremonies. U don’t get the ‘merit points’ for giving people the food etc, coz it wasn’t really ‘sincere’ – it was done to show off ur wealth & u expect something ($) in return

I'm same wavelength as Wau Bulan ...

getting sun tan ...

For this past 2 days and today, I purposely parked my sweety outside - so that she could get some sun tan :) .... I tinted my car ( finally - after so many many years ). Now , when friends heard about the tinted car, orang ingat I ada kereta baru ..... aiyuh, pai sek. She's still the same old car , which has been serving me faithfully for > 10 yrs. Oh, i love the tinted effect, betul2 dumb for not using this earlier. The weather is getting so hot , i beh tahan driving under the hot sun ... now it's much better, I'm so happy.....

TAR Asia repeats

Hi Hi - some readers asking when is the repeat .... TW show time is different eh :)
For Mal, first run is on AXN - Thursday 9 pm, repeats on :-

Friday 12:30 am
Friday 12 noon
Saturday 10 am
Sunday 8 pm
Tuesday 8 pm
Wednesday 5 pm
Thursday 12 am

prayer meeting ....

Lately, Bahija is slightly 'upset' with the things happening in the country .... this morning, read the article about 'Mal Bodoh' instead of 'Mal Boleh'. Tonight, I was suppose to meet a new friend from Vietnam, be her tour guide. But last minute, she decided to fly home earlier - thus my friday night was free. After stucked in the jam for 1.5 hours - I decided to drag my tired body and mind to the prayer meeting .....surprised loh, rupa-rupanya pastor also read the same article, he also brought up some points and shared with us. This week UM is hving general meeting - some of the leaders are getting slightly arrogant liow (as the group is growing), this may not do us any good. Anyway, I feel much better after prayer meeting .... hey, stood for 1.5 hours prayed prayed prayed and sang this -

Heal the nation / Mal
Heal the nation / Mal
Heal the nation / Mal
Pour out your spirit onto this land

Mal

Docker's pant passed this link to me ... to my fellow 'kakis' who care or who are still stepping on this soil - this is a good article to read , to me, makes real sense :( The global market is so competitive, yet we are rocking our own boats internally - cari pasal. I felt like Mal is losing control, I dun feel happy with the annoucement on bigger newer palace and other things too. I wish to be happy reading some of the annoucements which will benefit majority of the normal citizens ...

Last sunday - pastor preached on 'prayer for nation' - he also commented there are many nonsense folks doing nonsense things ....eg mat salleh couple caught 'kawat' , Datuk Z and a few more cases, stupid comments from various folks... and triggered people to initiate migration plans :) [ sound familiar, my readers ?? ] We ended the service with a song 'Oh Lord, bless us' - pastor changed it to 'Oh Lord, bless Mal' - may we , as a nation , has the wisdom, intelligence , strength to do the right things for all ...

TAR Asia

Hey Hey Hey ...remember to watch TAR Asia this Thursday 9 pm on AXN ....
The teams will be flagged off at our Dataran Merdeka lah . So wonderful , this thursday, I hv no cell meeting , so I get to stay at home and enjoy the first episode :) hehehehe

fun evening at TR and shopping ...

Ross, Chandler, Monica and Phoebe went to Tony Roma's tonight .... it's been a very long time since we last met for dinner ( it's hard to get full attendance - missing Joey and Racheal ). We ordered the signature appetizer TR full onion loaf, beef ribs, TR's salad , caesar salad with salmon - yum yum - dinner was great , too much for 4 of us. Our waiter was good & polite , managed to win our hearts to tip her. One thing dissappointed - this TR is halal one - no pork served , Bahija not a beef-kaki, aiiii - that means still need to go overseas to sample the juicy tender succulent pork ribs lah ....
Tonight was meaningful - it will be 'Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah' - glad to be there :) - I'll blog about this later .....

baby sitting ..

Mum and little sis are visiting India Golden Triangle now ....my boss allowed me to work from home so that I can babysit Teddy Bear. Nice eh - I reckon it's very hard to find a boss like him , so supportive and understanding. Today, Bahija very bad ...after lunch, I was suppose to give medication to Teddy Bear, yet when I received escalation on the db issues, I ditched him alone, and focus only on my work ....so much so that I totally forgot about his medication ....aiyuh. I only realized at 5 pm ( when I've settled my issues ). At 7 pm, he should be taking the dinner medication lah - so sorry T.B, for screwing up , bad bear sitter :P

Then, mum in India ... she sms-ed beh tahan the smell, hotel, water , food all ada smell, couldn't sleep at night because of the smell...aiyuh, Anti-Ringgit - that bad ker ? I'm afraid that mummy will belasah me for recommending India to her la , hmmmm .... God - please please give them some peace of mind, peace of heart , that they could enjoy their visit there lah

2nd important thing ...

I can't live without my sweety ( first on my list ) ... 2nd on my list should be internet broadband access :) - banking, concert tickets, online chats, online shopping, goggling to solve work related issues, vpn to work from home or anywhere ....

tinted glass

on my personal belonging list, the most important thing that I can't live without - is my sweety car. Just the other day - in the morning, when my sweety broke down - I was in chaotic, couldn't go anywhere nor do anything ..... felt so helpless. I can't locked myself at home for 1 day lah, lunch and dinner also ada masalah if I dun hv car :) hehehe

See la, how important is my sweety to me ...hmm, so I should have given her a good treat by installing the tinted glass la .... aiyuh , my mind entah brain apa , I could spend hundreds on make-up, on perfumes - but neglecting this little important thing , protecting me from UV and sun tan wor .... my to do list , to give 'her' a treat pretty soon ( can u imagine, sudah 11 yrs , still belum tinted - aiyuh )

Asian T.A.R episode 10

howdeeee....my readers who like TAR, we've watched many episodes, the coming one is the Asian version, premier is on Nov 9 evening on AXN. Those tak ada , sorry eh - tunggu 8tv nanti. Let's get ready and check out the Asian teams :)

Iceberg ...

The Titanic received five iceberg warnings just before it went down. When the sixth message came during the wee hours of the morning: "Look out for icebergs," the operator wired back "Shut-up! I'm busy!" Thirty minutes later the great 'unsinkable' vessel was sinking fast. What happened? They forgot the truth about icebergs. What they saw above the water couldn't have sunk the great ship. But unfortunately most of an iceberg is below the water. Do you know what? That iceberg represents your life! The 10% above the water is your reputation; the 90% below is your character. And it's what's below the surface that sinks your ship.

What is character?
(a) Self-discipline - the ability to do what's right, even when you don't feel like it.
(b) Core values - principles you live by in spite of the pressures around you.
(c) Sense of identity - a self-image based on who God, not others, says you are.
(d) Emotional security - the capacity to be emotionally stable and consistent. Your life's greatest impact doesn't come from what you own, but from what you are....The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart"

Whatever's happening today on the outside of your life comes from what's happening on the inside. God puts "being" before "doing." He prioritises taking care of the inside (your heart) because that will determine what takes place on the outside (your behaviour).

----
A few things that I hate to read about, how we wish there are more people out there have better characters :-
a) U Kay area always have landslides , we hv had very serious cases whereby many people lost their lives ... yet this landslides continue to happe, and projects are being approved , new properties are being built - wonder Y ? when bad things happen - the popular statement like tis ' a committee is setup to study and prepare the report' - aiyuh , after so many tragedies - we are still doing study and preparing report - then dissappeared ...

b) Klang Z cases, today we found out 2 more cases .... isn't it obvious that those folks within their group knows about all this 'no approval' thingy - just a matter of covering and you watch my back, i watch your back , not a surprise to me ....sakit hati-nya my tax money

c) Unethincal pig farmers - talking short cut , greed, feeding pigs with drugs - we eat - bad for us ...

c) the topic of marginalization - aiiii , 9MP and so on

I've been trying to keep myself positive - to continue to have some 'hope' on this land that i am staying .... my lunch kakies now asking this Q 'shld we migrate ?' ... I am telling them tat everywhere is the same, there is some pros and cons no matter where we are - I'm not sure how long I can keep this statement

kopi talk .....

For the past few weeks, this friend of mine, kept saying 'ageing and no caffeine' .... aiiii, Bahija took 1 cup of rose coffee yesterday at 3:45 pm, it is now 1:44 am the next day - i think the caffeine still going strong inside me, sien. Since I can't sleep , here we go - I'm goin to 'kopi-talk'. Last time, we frequent mamak stalls for teh tarik, kopi-O, kopi, milo etc etc.
Then mid 90's , came the foreign's franchising and started the era of Coffee Bean, Starbucks, San Francisco Coffee, Gloria Jean, Austin Chase ( so far I have not seen Seatle Best Coffee yet ).
Now , the trend is back to the old time kopitiam ( K ) .... everywhere in the corner, we can easily find some sort of K , eg Old Town K, Kluang K, Uncle's Lim, Uncle Kheng K , Uncle 'whatever' K ( there are many of them ) ....today , my friend recommended Winter's Warmer - another 'in' place in town to taste some interesting flavored coffee or tea, the setting is on English style and the coffee looks nice to drink. I had the rose coffee with rose bud, tasted rossy... For me, I still like the original coffee taste. With so many coffee shops around , it's just 'sad' that I couldn't smell those nice coffee aroma while I was wandering around. Could it be my nose is not sensitive anymore ?? In CA, NY , OR , my nose could tell me there was a coffee shop nearby .... in a cold weather - it's so 'ummph' to be able to hold on to a cup of hot coffee - yum yum